Comic Relief, is it just a rip off?

I remember many many years ago trying to get help from children in need for a little funding to help to get a youth club up & running for the young people in the town that I used to live in. Alas to no avail. I also remember being told by some one that there was so much money left at the end of the year that a lot of it got spent doing out offices, with office equipment eg computers furnishings etc that no one really needed. How true is that. ? There just seemed to be so much I couldn't make sense of. May be things have changed today.

I think it goes for most charities today every now & again it would be good to have a break down of all monies & how they are spent.

I think you are simply stupid. Our faith teaches us to alwayz help pur neighour, in any way possible, and what easier way than to give a pound or to out of the £340 average you make a week? And whoever left the comment about 'digusting human beings??' SHAME ON YOU>

why dont cr have open accounts for the public to see as its the publics money ?

Comic Relief and Children in Need are a waste of charity space. Why not concentrate on the more important beings in this world: animals! I hate that animal charities barely get a mention, yet we are encouraged to give money to digusting human beings.

Jimmy,

I do agree with your point in principle. Of course, giving direct is the best way as you know every penny is going where you want it to. My point really is that many people are unable to do so and therefore £1 to comic relief is better than giving nothing at all. I think we have to accept that there are very real costs involved with organising something on the scale of CR and an amount to cover those costs will always be deducted.
I've seen CR in action in Africa and they really do do good work. They are a charity worth supporting!

to living on easy street>>>>>>

I'm sorry that you cannot understand that you are in essence agreeing with the point I am making.

of COURSE giving DIRECTLY to charity, is much much more fullfilling, and I believe better than giving instead to a big corperate company, where you you have no idea if the money is being spent on food for poor, or champagne for shareholders.

I NEVER see any money spent on any good causes (except those on TV) I mean does anyone really? all around me I see poverty and depravation but where does all this money go???All our charitable notions are sucked up by this 1 yearly campagn. the effect that this has on truely needy charities, is incalcuable.

My school does comic relief I think your right, all the money should go to comic relief people are just to greedy to give. A man came up to me this morning and ask me for 50p to get on the bus to get home. I said no sorry I don't have any money, knowing full well I had a 50p to spare. I felt so ashamed.

As I said in my earlier post, I shall give to CR as I always do. I also think that if you can give direct then that is much better. When I was in Africa I befreinded a Head Teacher at a nursery school. I got to know him very well and upon leaving I gave him £100 toward the costs of running the school. I wasn't prepared for his reaction. He cried and said he would be forever grateful for my help. This set me off too , but it proved to be the most rewarding experience of my life. He went on to tell me about how there was no government funding for schools and that his school, that he set up himself, was run entirely on charitable donations. All this was revealed AFTER I gave him the money. To me this was a true sign of his integrity.
Since being home I have raised as much as I can for the 'Kotakalu Nursery School' through boot fairs etc. Doing something to help has given me so much. I regularly receive letters from the children at the school and when I last visited I was treated like royalty on my arrival (although this was highly embarrassing for me). Giving direct is a chance that not many people get. I am not a wealthy person but I feel like the richest person alive when I look at the photos and read the letters.
I would urge everybody to give a little and trust that money does get through, or better still, go to Africa and form a bond with somebody so you can give direct. The main point being, these people don't ask to be born where they are, they don't ask their governments to neglect them, they do deserve and need our help. Think about that for a few minutes. THEN GIVE

I spent some time online trying to find financial data on comic relief and could not. Like most charities / fundraisers they are not forthcoming with where the money goes and how. I am always slightly suspicious of the big high-profile charity fund-raisers because this type of adverstising is so expensive. I suppose on balance it is a good thing because it prompts some people to give who would not otherwise but for the more savy donors I'm sure there are more efficient ways of donating and with more accountability and transparency.

I do not normally give to Comic Relief, but this year a mates son is doing a sponsored silence for the cause so I am donating a few quid through him.
I do give readily to some charities that are ( or seem to be ) volunteer driven; or have helped someone close to me. The Lifeboats and Salvation Army are two of these.
I am not blind to the fact that charities do incur costs but I tend to shy away from those that run nightly TV campaigns and full page spreads in newspapers.

Go to Africa and you will see the good work that comic relief is doing. I'm nobody special, just your average Joe really, but what I've seen there is incredible. Go there and I guarantee it will change your life. It did mine. I think it is fashionable to bash charities like this and everybody is jumping on the bandwagon to do so.
No matter what your business there are unavoidable costs. That is where some of the money goes. If the charity does not pay the cost then it cannot function at all and nobody gets any help, let alone 70% of your donation.
Join in and send in your donation on the night. I know I will!

You can be certain, somebody is getting a BIG wallet out of this charity. I say charity should be run by VOLUNTEERS, not GREEDY Bast**ds.